The right mix of popular science and snark. It's like mix of Frans De Waal's "Our Inner Ape", Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel"(but for sex) andThe right mix of popular science and snark. It's like mix of Frans De Waal's "Our Inner Ape", Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel"(but for sex) and "The Third Chimpanzee", Frederich Engels "Origins of the Family, Private Property, and the State", Dan Savage's "Savage Love", Laura Kipnis' "Against Love", Dossie Easton and Catherine A. Liszt's "Ethical Slut" (but without the hippie vibe).

It combines many studies and articles I've been reading and taking note of for years, such as:

The writing also has some hilarious quips from "Darwin says your mother is a whore", to a discussion in comparison sexual practices between chimpanzees, bonobos and humans that usually found bonobos and humans sharing traits ending with this challenge: "Genital-genital (G-G) rubbing between female bonobos appears to affirm female bonding, is present in all bonobo populations studied (wild and captive), and is completely absent in chimpanzees. Human data on G-G rubbing are presently unavailable. (Attention: ambitious graduate students!)"

One large anthropological portion of the book goes into some depth about the "fierce egalitarian" economy of small bands of foragers.

An area where I think the book is lacking is in examining agricultural/horticultural societies that have relatively flat social hierarchy and still have communal economies; particularly those societies that are both matrilocal and matrilineal. They tease us with referencing Lewis Henry Morgan.

Among areas I would like to see some research is physical anthropology on skeletal height and age among agriculturalists that do not have stratified society that still make active use of hunting, fishing and foraging to supplement their agriculture. This is something of a tangent from the focus of their book, but I do think it's an important area to considering when examining agriculture. Also, writers like Joel Johnson are phrasing it as a choice "Orgies or Beer: You Only Get One" ( http://gizmodo.com/5609549/orgies-or-... ). Anthropology and history point out that often societies have had both.

This book is highly recommended to any human being who has sex or is otherwise interested in studying human sexuality. ...more